Jasper asked the jury to question their initial gut feelings upon looking at the three men — whether they felt the three are innocent or guilty of an offence.

“If that presumption is not innocence, then you have to reset your feelings,” she said, reminding the 11 individuals of the presumption of innocence until guilt is proven by the Crown.

In Jasper’s view — and in those of her counterparts Mike Buchinski (for Bellegarde) and George Combe (for Theodore) — the Crown has not met that burden in proving the men committed first-degree murder.

His body was found later that month in a shallow grave on the edge of the Star Blanket First Nation.

Reno Lee (Submitted photo)

Closing arguments in the case began Monday and will continue Tuesday, when co-Crown prosecutors Bill Jennings and Adam Breker will have the opportunity to address the jury. Once submissions are done, Justice Catherine Dawson will begin charging jurors in preparation for their deliberations.

Neither Buchinski nor Combe said jurors will have a tough time coming to a conclusion on the offering an indignity charge in relation to their clients, neither of whom was arguing the allegation. Rather, they focused on the murder charge which, if it results in guilty findings as it stands, would result in life sentences with no parole eligibility for 25 years.

Buchinski urged the jury to remember each charge must be weighed separately; guilt on one does not automatically mean guilt on the other.

He sought to poke holes in the evidence of key Crown witnesses present at or around the time of the confinement and homicide, describing the situation at the Garnet Street house as “an orgy of drug use.” Because of the drugs consumed, Buchinski — as did the other defence lawyers — argued reliability of those witnesses’ evidence is called into question. The three further asked the jury to consider those witnesses — several of whom are also facing charges — have motive to minimize their own roles or to pin blame on others.

While neither Buchinski nor Combe claimed their clients weren’t present at Garnet Street, they suggested the evidence on what they did there was far from solid. Rather, Combe asked the jury to consider Theodore’s role as being limited to aiding in Lee’s confinement.

All three defence lawyers argued there is no evidence their clients conspired, planned or otherwise intended Lee’s murder, urging the jury to find the Crown had failed to prove necessary elements of murder.

Jasper asked the jury to find her client not guilty on both counts. She said evidence mounted against Gordon could be interpreted in more than one way — the result of which must be, she argued, to give her client the benefit of the doubt.